Psalms 60:1

1 To the Chief Musician. Set to 'Lily of the Testimony.' A Michtam of David. For teaching. When he fought against Mesopotamia and Syria of Zobah, and Joab returned and killed twelve thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt. O God, You have cast us off; You have broken us down; You have been displeased; Oh, restore us again!

Psalms 60:1 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 60:1

O God, thou hast cast us off
What is said in this verse, and ( Psalms 60:2 Psalms 60:3 ) , are by some applied to times past; to the distress of the people Israel by their neighbours in the times of the judges; to their being smitten by the Philistines, in the times of Eli and Samuel; and to the victory they obtained over them, when Saul and his sons were slain; and to the civil wars between the house of Saul and David; but rather the whole belongs to future times, which David, by a prophetic spirit, was led to on the occasion of the victory obtained, when before this the nation had been in bad circumstances. This refers to the casting off of the Jews as a church and nation, when they had rejected the Messiah and killed him, persecuted his apostles, and despised his Gospel; of which see ( Romans 11:15 Romans 11:19-21 ) ;

thou hast scattered us;
as they were by the Romans among the various nations of the world, and among whom they are dispersed to this day; or "thou hast broken us" F11, as in ( Psalms 80:12 ) ; not only the walls of their city were broken by the battering rams of the Romans, but their commonwealth, their civil state, were broke to pieces by them. Jarchi applies this to the Romans; his note is this;

``when Edom fell by his hand (David's), he foresaw, by the Holy Ghost, that the Romans would rule over Israel, and decree hard decrees concerning them;''

thou hast been displeased;
not only with their immorality and profaneness, with their hypocrisy and insincerity, with their will worship and superstition, and the observance of the traditions of their elders; but also with their rejection of the Messiah, and contempt of his Gospel and ordinances;

O turn thyself to us again;
which prayer will be made by them, when they shall become sensible of their sins, and of their state and condition, and shall turn unto the Lord; and when he will turn himself to them, and turn away iniquity from them, and all Israel shall be saved, ( Romans 11:25 Romans 11:26 ) ; or "thou wilt return unto us" F12; who before were cast off, broken, and he was displeased with; or others to us.


FOOTNOTES:

F11 (wnturp) "rupisti nos", Montanus, Michaelis; "disrupisti", Gejerus; so Ainsworth.
F12 (wnl bbwvt) "reverteris ad nos", Pagninus, Montanus; "reduces ad nos", Gussetius, p. 836.

Psalms 60:1 In-Context

1 To the Chief Musician. Set to 'Lily of the Testimony.' A Michtam of David. For teaching. When he fought against Mesopotamia and Syria of Zobah, and Joab returned and killed twelve thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt. O God, You have cast us off; You have broken us down; You have been displeased; Oh, restore us again!
2 You have made the earth tremble; You have broken it; Heal its breaches, for it is shaking.
3 You have shown Your people hard things; You have made us drink the wine of confusion.
4 You have given a banner to those who fear You, That it may be displayed because of the truth. Selah
5 That Your beloved may be delivered, Save with Your right hand, and hear me.

Footnotes 1

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.